Veres keys ESU win in Pocono Classic

Sunday

Nov 25, 2012 at 12:01 AM

EAST STROUDSBURG — Junior guard Andrea Veres scored 19 points to lead a barrage of 11 3-pointers by East Stroudsburg University, and sophomore forward Jessica Martin had 14 points, 12 rebounds, five blocks and four steals for her fifth career double-double as the Warriors ran past Caldwell for a 70-55 win on the first night of the 48th Annual Pocono Classic at Koehler Fieldhouse.

Staff reports

EAST STROUDSBURG — Junior guard Andrea Veres scored 19 points to lead a barrage of 11 3-pointers by East Stroudsburg University, and sophomore forward Jessica Martin had 14 points, 12 rebounds, five blocks and four steals for her fifth career double-double as the Warriors ran past Caldwell for a 70-55 win on the first night of the 48th Annual Pocono Classic at Koehler Fieldhouse.

Martin and Veres, who were both on last year's All-Tournament team with Martin earning MVP honors, will lead the Warriors against Concordia (N.Y.) at 3 p.m. today. Concordia fell to Virginia Union, 52-44, in Saturday's first game.

ESU (1-1) put together an outstanding shooting effort in its first action in 10 days. The Warriors made double-figure 3-pointers for the first time since February 2011, going 11-for-17 from long distance led by Veres' 5-for-6 performance.

Veres scored 16 of her 19 points in the first half as the Warriors opened a 41-35 halftime lead, and ESU used a 15-3 run midway through the second half to put the game away.

Senior forward Fayola Moise had 12 points, five rebounds and five assists and sophomore guard Ryann Fiascki scored 10 points and tied her career-high with seven rebounds. Redshirt sophomore guard Steph Cabald added seven points and five assists as the Warriors got 62 of their 70 points from their starters and had 19 assists on 28 field goals.

ESU turned the ball over just five times in each half and shot 51.5 percent (17-for-33) in the opening period. They shot just 34.4 percent (11-for-32) in the second half, but went 6-for-9 from behind the arc to sprint past Caldwell by a 29-20 margin after intermission.

Martin, last year's PSAC East Freshman of the Year, had five blocks in a game for the seventh time in 28 career games. She set the PSAC freshman record with 76 blocks and ranked ninth in Division II with 2.9 blocks per game last season.

Veres went over the 500-point mark for her career in the first half, finishing the second game of her junior year with 506 points. Her five 3-pointers were a career-high.

Senior guard Barb Borst went 2-for-2 from long distance off the bench, giving her 100 career 3-pointers. She is the fifth player in school history to hit the mark and is five behind DeAnna Rayam (2006-10), who is in her first season as an assistant coach for the Warriors.

Jeanette Anderson had 17 points and 10 rebounds and Torey Jones added 11 points, three assists and three steals for Caldwell (1-5). The Cougars shot just 6-for-34 (17.6 percent) in the second half to settle at 30.0 percent for the game. They were 12-for-26 (46.2 percent) to stay at arms' length in the first half.

Caldwell led 25-19 with just over eight minutes left in the first half before Veres led an 11-2 run, hitting three of her five 3-pointers in a span of 2:45 to put the Warriors in front 30-27. She added her fourth 3 of the half with 1:12 remaining and hit a layup to close the half with 16 points as ESU led 41-35.

The Warriors held a 47-43 lead six minutes into the second half before going on their decisive run. Borst started it with the first of her two 3-pointers, Fiascki hit from long distance, Borst struck again and Fiascki set up a layup by Moise to make it 58-46 with 10:41 remaining.

The run reached 15-3 as Moise and Martin both scored in the next three minutes to push the margin to 65-48, and the ESU defense held Caldwell to 1-for-12 shooting with two turnovers until Jessica Coscia (five points) ended the run with a jumper with 6:41 left.